For generations, the Fourth of July in Canandaigua has meant one thing above all else: fireworks over the lake. It is a tradition woven into the identity of this city — a moment each year when families spread out along the Canandaigua Lakefront, children point at the sky, and the entire community comes together in a shared expression of pride, joy, and belonging. That tradition is not just a fireworks show. It is who we are.

This year, as our nation prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary — a once-in-a-lifetime milestone that will not come again in our lifetimes — the City of Canandaigua has announced that the fireworks display will be held at Outhouse Park rather than on the lake. While we are grateful that the City and Town have worked to ensure a celebration exists at all, and we respect the genuine efforts that were made to explore alternatives, we believe this historic occasion demands that every possible option be exhausted before we accept that a lakeside show cannot happen.

Mayor Thomas Lyon has acknowledged publicly that the boat previously used for water-launched fireworks is no longer available, and that training and certification requirements for launching from the water presented significant logistical barriers. He has also confirmed that options including a rented pontoon boat, the pier, Kershaw Park, and Lakefront Park were all explored. We appreciate that transparency. But we also believe that the community deserves a seat at the table in finding a solution — and that the passion of the people of Canandaigua is itself a resource that has not yet been fully tapped.

The Canandaigua Lakefront is more than a venue. It is the backdrop against which this community has marked its most important moments. The natural beauty of Canandaigua Lake, the reflections of light off the water, the gathering of thousands of neighbors side by side — these are not details that can simply be relocated to a park without losing something irreplaceable. Local businesses along the lakefront depend on the foot traffic this event brings. Families plan their summers around it. And for the 250th birthday of the United States of America, it deserves to be celebrated in the most iconic way this city knows how.

We are not asking the City to do the impossible. We are asking our elected leaders to keep the door open — to explore a partnership with the Town and County to share the costs and logistics, to consider whether a licensed pyrotechnics contractor with the necessary certifications could make a water launch viable, and to tell us, the residents, what we can do to help make this happen. If there is a will, there is a way. And in Canandaigua, there has always been a will.

Sign this petition to let the City of Canandaigua know that the lakefront tradition matters to you — and that for America’s 250th birthday, we want to celebrate it the right way